1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to safety apparatuses, and more particularly pertains to a safety equipment storage box which requires the removal of the safety equipment before associated electrically powered equipment can be operated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of safety apparatuses intended to safeguard the operation of a machine so as to remind operators to wear eye to face protectors is known in the prior art. For example, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,818,238, which issued to G. Lamire on June 18, 1974. The Lamire device comprises a grinder, or some similar equipment, which requires an operator to wear an eye or face protector by having the protector effectively operating as a switch means connected by the electric circuit to the machine motor. Only when the protector is in a normal position of use will the machine operate. As such, an operator is forced to wear the eye or face protector to close the electrical circuit to the grinder.
The Lamire device is illustrative of a far larger number of patents directed to the construction of similar safety apparatuses. However, all of these prior art devices involve the use of eye or face protectors which are directly wired to the electrical circuit of the associated machinery. As can be appreciated, the electrical interconnection of such eye and face protectors to the electrical circuits of machinery involves a complex and expensive procedure, and also severely limits the mobility of the operator whereby the eye and face protector must be removed before he can move any substantial distance from the operating machine.
While these prior art devices are functional for their intended purposes, there appears to be a continuing need for better designed safety apparatuses which would increase the mobility of an operator while assuring a use of a face and eye protector by the operator during equipment use. In this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.